Duality
by XDioxideX
Summary: The Avengers have been drug through the streets and finally frozen, shut off to the world. Will an unexpected hero come to their rescue, or will he be unable to overcome his own enemies?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! I finally came up with a new story. I've been working on and have rewritten this thing TIME. AFTER TIME. AFTER TIME. It takes up probably a third of my notebook that I scribble my stories in. Hopefully you guys will enjoy! Also—this has a LOT of Loki depression, angst, and eventually whump. It's probably one of the darker bits I've written. Have fun! **

Not a day went by when he didn't regret it. The nightmares were almost every night. They kept him awake; made him fear sleep. It wasn't a rare occurrence for him to stay awake for days, nearly a week at times. And then he would sleep for hours on end until it would occur to his subconscious that he needed to return to his somewhat normal schedule. That he needed to continue with life. So he would. He would eat a meager meal and clean himself up before leaving his tiny apartment and walking to his job at an orphanage. Later that day he would come back to the small room. Sometimes there would be a broken lock. Missing items. Other nights there would be a child with him who was in need of shelter for a night. Those nights he slept on the floor. Yet he couldn't ask for anything more. Couldn't complain. Things could be much, much worse.

Loki's punishment was to be banished to earth for the rest of eternity with severely limited magic. The only way he could return to Asgard was on one condition—if he attempted to interfere with any power for good, whether it was the police or the Avengers. He would be taken and promptly executed. The god chose to keep his head low and moved to the inner city of London. Even though it was a dangerous area to live in, no one ever recognized him. He had lived there for five years, working minimum wage under the name of Lockley Laufeyson.

Why he had chosen an orphanage, he didn't know. Maybe it was because he could understand the children. Understand why they hurt. Maybe that was also the reason why they loved him so much. Many of them thought of him as a friend and protector, not as a mean caretaker like so many of the other workers were. It wasn't uncommon for one of them to come and ask him to walk them to and from school.

News had been flickering about the streets, telling of Manhattan being completely frozen over and a new power taking place. The new leader only went by Absolute Zero. He controlled the city like a tyrant, breaking it away from the rest of the country. Life for the people inside was a harsh, freezing struggle to earn enough money to buy food for another day. Zero had developed a new type of climate altering machine and turned the city into a land that could only be compared to Siberia. Many of its inhabitants had died; frozen to death or starved. His thugs kept complete control, killing any and all who tried to rebel.

The monster himself was a massive beast of a man, standing at nearly seven feet tall and appearing to be built completely out of muscle. His hard, worn features hid the intelligence Loki knew he possessed. No ordinary human could simply build a climate changer, nonetheless use one. Another oddity about him was that the cold never seemed to bother him. Most likely another bit of intelligence that he had used to enhance and improve himself. His size and abilities were obviously unnatural.

It was hardly a week after the news began to spread when the hallucinations began. Laufeyson would be helping one of the children with a particularly difficult homework problem or showing them an interesting find when a sickening migraine would strike. Images and pricks of pain would flash through his mind. Many of them were of people he once knew as enemies being beaten down and drug through the streets as a reminder of Zero's complete and utter control. And then it would all go away; the headache, the visions, the pain. All of it. He would find himself crumpled against the wall, tremors wracking his body. The kids would be staring at him, asking if he was okay.

He always went home immediately after. While the delusions happened only once or twice a week, they continued to become more and more vivid. The pain would become sharper, clearer. More and more would flash behind his eyes. The god knew he needed to return to Manhattan.

Everything went wrong when a new boy came to the orphanage. His parents had moved to London from Manhattan immediately after the battle with the Chitauri, and the kid had been caught in the middle of the fighting at one point. Both of his guardians had died in a recent car accident, and he had had no family left. He had gaped at Loki when he arrived.

"Th-that's Loki! The guy that tried to take over the world!" The boy had yelled. Everyone had stopped what they were doing by that time and was staring at the god.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, kneeling down to see at his eye level. He looked to be thirteen or fourteen, but was short and skinny.

"Everyone knows who I'm talking about! You brought that army of aliens with you. You're Thor's brother."

Loki blinked, noticing the worker who had pulled out her phone and called the police. "Even if I was, why would I be working in an orphanage?"

"B-because you're lying low, trying to scheme. You even wear the same colors as he did." He pointed at the god's dark green hoodie and black jeans. He silently cursed his choice of clothing that day.

"I'm sorry." The god of Mischief looked at the floor and straightened up. "But that isn't who I am anymore." He could hear the approaching sirens and sighed, pulling his hood on and walking out onto the porch. It was pouring rain. "I also suppose that you wouldn't understand how much I want to clear my past."

The police cars were just rounding the corner as he took off at a run, heading in the direction of his apartment. He ducked into dark alleyways and avoided the main streets, knowing that the authorities would be after him. The darker side of him—the side that fought and took over in difficult situations—seemed to be switched on for the first time in years. Which was probably true. He hadn't been in a stressful situation that required him to fight or run in a long time. His sentence from Asgard was fresh in his mind as he ran up the stairs to his floor, taking the steps two, sometimes three at a time. The god couldn't fight the police—only run from them.

It was five minutes later when he had gathered his few valuables in a backpack and had put on a dark trench coat over his hoodie when he was running down the stairs. The police had arrived a few moments earlier and were searching the streets outside. He grimaced and took a side door, sticking to the shadows and hurrying back to the orphanage. There was something he had forgotten.

All of the doors were locked when he tried them, and he finally had to resort to banging on one of them until one of the caretakers answered it. She gawked at him for a moment before he slipped in past her and whistled.

"What are you doing?" She hissed. "You're not supposed to be here!"

"All of a sudden treating me like a criminal when I have done nothing to hurt you," he muttered. "It seems like I was correct about human nature. You can completely trust a man, but hate him when you find the red on his ledger." There was a stunned silence until a small black cat appeared through the crack in the door. It mewed and walked over to the god, who petted it for a moment and gently lifted it from the floor. He lightly placed the feline in his backpack and zipped it for the most part; leaving a gap for the animal to breathe through. "It seems like Holly is the only one who trusts me. And that is probably because I fed her since she was a kitten."

"Wait," the girl said just as he was about to step outside. "Where are you going?"

"The Frozen City. My brother is in need of assistance."

"Is he in trouble?"

"Would I be going to rescue him if he wasn't?" Loki turned away and began to walk off. "I was going to leave, recognized or not."

"Will you come back?"

"Hopefully. Watch the news for me. Tell them that I'm not there for the wrong reasons." With that, the god disappeared around the corner. He had a lot of arrangements to make in order to get to Manhattan.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO IN ONE DAY WHAT NOW **

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The police were swarming the area. They were searching every nook and cranny, making it extremely difficult for him to escape unnoticed. But he did.

Loki knew who he needed to contact to get a flight to Manhattan. There were occasional flights into the Frozen City, but they were constantly monitored. People were allowed in. Never allowed back out.

The god headed straight for the airport, stopping for a few moments at a payphone and calling his friend. The man had promised a flight if he absolutely couldn't get anything else. Laufeyson knew that security would be on high alert, so he waited beside the road for the pilot. The man eventually arrived and allowed him into the car.

"What's going on? Why the sudden need for a flight?" His friend, a man by the name of Benjamin Gray had grown up in the orphanage. He had moved on to become a pilot after leaving.

"I need to get to the Frozen City. My brother is in trouble." Loki gazed out the window at the pouring rain.

"You never said you had a brother,"

"There's a lot of things I never said." He pulled Holly out of his backpack and held her in his lap.

"What are you talking about?" Ben looked over at him.

"I…am not who you think I am. There is a reason why I didn't meet you inside."

The other looked forward again. They were approaching the hangar. "Security is after you, aren't they? What did you do?"

The god sighed and leaned his head back against the seat. "Lockley is not my real name. Loki is."

Gray almost choked on the coffee he had been drinking. "Do what? I'm harboring a worldwide criminal?"

"Terrorist, I believe. You know I'm not the same."

"I know. This is going to be quite the adventure," a grin was spreading across the pilot's face. "I'm guessing you're out to help Thor?"

"And to redeem myself."

"Alright. Come on. Let's get this show on the road." Ben stepped out of the car and looked around. They had stopped underneath an awning. What neither one of them expected was the security officer waiting inside the hangar. He seemed taken aback when Loki stepped inside. He was calling backup before either one could do anything.

"Start the plane!" Laufeyson put Holly and his backpack inside the small thing and turned to the guard. He was aiming a pistol at his head. "Now, let's not get too violent." The god put his hands in the air. What the guard didn't notice was the mischief glittering in his eyes.

"Keep your hands up," he growled. The hangar door came open and Gray could be heard running to the plane. "I'll shoot if you start that plane!"

"Ahem. There really is no need for violence. You see, I have been banished here upon terms that if I fight against any position of power, be it the police or the Avengers, I am to be taken to Asgard and executed immediately. Now, if you would please remove that weapon from my face, I would be much more willing to surrender."

The guard looked skeptical, but after a few more moments of persuasion, he lowered the pistol. That was all that Loki needed. He dove to the side, drawing his attention away from the plane. Ben started the plane as the man fired multiple shots. More security personal ran in and began to chase after the god, but he moved too quickly. His ride began to wheel out onto the runway.

Chaos ensued. A larger plane was about to take off and it nearly barreled into the smaller one that was just turning. The passenger jet pulled up and barely avoided running over the private plane. Laufeyson sprinted after Gray's plane, bullets whizzing around him. He caught up to it and grabbed onto the door, hanging on for dear life as the thing lifted off of the ground and banked sharply to the left. Another passenger jet flew dangerously close.

Once they were out of range of the security guards' pistols, Loki yanked the door open and squeezed inside. He exchanged a glance with Ben and both started to laugh.

"They don't call you the God of Chaos and Mischief for nothing," the pilot flicked a couple of switches and altered course to head in the direction of the Frozen City.

Laufeyson shrugged. "I have caused much worse."

"As in..?"

"Odin once had a son named Baldur, who was the god of truth and light. Quite frankly, everyone adored him, so they made him immune to almost every substance or weapon in the nine worlds. Everyone was having a party for him. In the meantime, I disguised myself and found what his one weakness was from my mother, Frigga. It was mistletoe. So, like any god of trickery, I went and fetched a branch of it and showed Baldur's blind brother, Hod, how to throw the branch at him. Baldur died upon contact."

"I assume they were not happy with you."

"Of course not! I had just assisted in the death of the most beloved god! They held the funeral the next day, where Baldur's wife dropped dead from grief. It was a wonderful time."

"Only you could say that," Gray laughed quietly.

It was nearly eight hours later when they landed. The plane began to jump and skip on the icy runway, but Ben controlled it well enough to properly stop. Loki gazed out at the snow.

"Don't die, got it?" His friend was serious.

"I know, I know. I won't be gone much more than a week, I hope." Laufeyson coaxed Holly back into his backpack. He had packed a blanket and carefully wrapped the cat in it. He opened the door and breathed in the cold air.

"Good luck." Gray watched as the god disappeared in a sudden flurry of snow. It seemed to accept and welcome him.

It seemed to be his natural companion.


	3. Chapter 3

**GUYS SCHOOL STARTED AND I DON'T LIKE IT. But don't worry—I've been getting as much writing done as possible, and I have ideas all over the place for this story. REVIEWS ARE AMAZING. PLEASE GIVE ME AMAZING.**

Loki sighed and walked through the snow. The stuff was nearly two feet deep once he stepped off of the runway. It was more struggling through it than the cold that bothered him. Even then, his eyes naturally picked out the best places to put his feet down.

He had been trudging along for a few minutes when he heard voices yelling. They were coming towards him. The god ducked behind a drift and stayed completely still, hoping whoever it was wouldn't bother to look for him. A couple of minutes passed with only the sound of the wind whistling over his head. It was after what seemed like an eternity when he saw the people who had been approaching.

Three massive men in heavy parkas and clothes made for the cold slowly moved past. They had to yell at each other to be heard over the storm. Laufeyson picked up on something about an unscheduled flight and quickly put the pieces together. Whoever they were, they were after Ben. As if things weren't going bad enough already.

He pulled his hood on tighter and started to run after the men, hoping they would fall for the trick he had just thought up.

"Hey!" The god called. "Wait up! I just heard that that flight came in early." There was a pause as the three men turned around and fixed their pig-like gazes on him. Even the shortest one out of them all stood six inches taller than he did. "It was supposed to come in around midnight tonight."

One of them looked at him critically. "How do we know this isn't a trick?" The others gave grunts of agreement.

Loki could feel something under his feet. It seemed to be a pipe or bar of some sort. "Why is this important? We all want to go back inside."

"You know the protocol. That could have been a military jet, and they're the last thing we need. Now come on." The man motioned towards the runway. "We've got some soldiers to kill."

These were obviously some of Zero's men. And Zero wasn't a power for good. Which meant that Laufeyson could attack.

It was a split second later when he was bashing one of them over the head with what turned out to be a long metal pipe. The thing was as close as he could get to a scepter, which was his weapon of choice. Hardly a minute passed before all three of them were on the ground in various states of consciousness. One of them appeared almost dead; blood running from his temple and onto the snow. Another, who tried to come from behind, had ended up taking the end of the pipe to his sternum and was wheezing and gasping for air. The first one was struggling to stand upright.

He was staring at the god, whose hood had fallen back in the fight. "You're not one of us," there was a crunch as he firmly planted his feet in the snow. "You're the one who failed to take over the world."

Snow began to swirl and fly around them as bitterness rose in Loki's throat. He could see that his skin was taking on a bluish tint. "And that failure was for the better." There wasn't even the slightest feeling of remorse as the man in front of him froze solid. This was the side that fought; that felt no sorrow. Yet it had still changed. Still changed to benefit the good.

The snow slowed and eventually stopped falling as he walked back towards the airport. Gray was probably done refueling by now and would be leaving soon. Laufeyson earned a few strange looks when he stepped inside the airport, carrying his pipe and completely ignoring the snow that was clinging to his legs. He swiftly walked through the building and looked around the parking garage when he emerged. There was no way he was going to waste all of his magic by conjuring up a vehicle.

A completely black sports bike caught his eye. He quickly looked it over for any issues before pulling the cover off and hotwiring the thing. It jumped to life, the engine quietly purring. The god murmured a quiet apology to whoever owned the thing as he replaced the cover and pulled the helmet on. There was a quiet click as he slid the visor down, and then he was gone.

He flew down the highway, dodging cars and barely avoiding a collision multiple times. It wasn't long before a number of SUVs were following him. The pipe seemed to be burning into his back where he had slipped it under his bag. A roadblock ahead caused him to whip the bike to the side; screeching down a ramp and onto a lower street. Only two of the vehicles following him managed the turn, and only one of those was able to follow him down the winding path he chose through the streets and alleys.

It was after a particularly sharp and disorienting turn that he realized he had turned into a dead end. The remaining SUV screeched to a stop, skidding to the side and blocking his escape. Stark Tower was three huge blocks down the street, but Loki knew that was where he needed to go. Hopefully Pepper or one of the Avengers would be there to give him some kind of help.

Four men stepped out of the Suburban, each one just as large as the men he had run into earlier. One of them stepped forward, holding a baseball bat. "You shouldn't have done all of that, Laufeyson. You would be a great asset to us. I'm sure you would get a great position of power."

The god sighed and kicked down the stands on the bike before slipping off and pulling the pipe out from under his backpack. He then set the bag down and laid his helmet next to it. "I really should have. You see, if I was on your side, I would have approached Zero by now. But I haven't, have I?"

"Obviously not."

Loki began to twirl the pipe in his hands. "I'm not going to join you."

The man shrugged. "Your decision." He rushed at the smaller, bat raised to come down on his head. The blow never connected. There was a dark colored blur to his right, and then a hard hit to his back. It hardly fazed him as he swung again, this time changing his tactic. The bat met with Laufeyson's ribcage, causing all the air in his lungs to escape in a choking breath. Sleet was beginning to fall.

"And you call yourself a god?" The man chuckled. "Your brother put up a much better fight than you did. We lost nearly twenty men to him, yet you can't even beat one of us." Ice was forming on the pavement, and the temperature dropped ten degrees in a matter of seconds.

Loki eventually managed to straighten up. The look across his face was of pure mischief. "Too bad for you; I've frozen all of your feet." He grinned as all of them looked down. The ice had come over their boots and laced up their calves. None of them could move. "It seems like I can beat you, doesn't it?" The tendrils of cold began to move up their bodies, freezing them solid.

"Sneakiness will get you nowhere," the first man ground out.

"It got me here, didn't it?" Laufeyson walked over and picked up his backpack before starting down the street. He gently pulled Holly out of the bag and slung it over his shoulders; opting to carry her. The cat blinked and looked around curiously when they finally made it to Stark Tower.

The god stepped inside and coughed quietly. His ribs still hurt. After a short ride in the elevator, the two of them were standing in the penthouse level. Holly stayed close as he walked through the building.

"Hello?" Loki called. There was a long pause. "Is anyone here? Miss Potts?" His words did nothing but echo through the halls. "Jarvis?"

A heavy British accent sounded behind him. "I am sorry, but I must ask that you leave."

The god turned around and found himself staring at the gauntlet of the Iron Man suit. It was charged and about to fire.

This wasn't going to end well.


End file.
